The Roots (II)

January 19, 2011

Dayum, the Roots post from yesterday gave me some sweet mem’ries of their old shows. I was bullshitting online and found the excellent site TheRootsLive.com, which has several bootlegs of live Roots shows from the mid-90s until 2005-ish. I wanted to find a show with good quality (and semi-known songs) that exemplifies how much fun they have on stage. I found exactly what I was looking for – a performance from 2003 in Germany with Roy Hargrove guesting on trumpet, Vernon Reid on guitar and Martin Luther singing. Ridiculous solos and jam sessions, awesome breaks into songs from that time (“Grindin”, “Lose Yourself”, “So Fresh So Clean” etc…) as well as classic hip-hop songs, and a very energetic and inspired performance from vocalist Black Thought. Couldn’t recommend this more. Tracklist and full D/L after the jump.